Propeller and current-motor.



APPLIOATION FILED DEO.11, 1908.

[N V EN TOR Jam es 6. 6m say.

A TTORNE Y Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

ANDREW. a, GRAHAM co, PNOTO- ITNUBRAHIERB. wlsumuwu. n. c.

UNIED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES G. GRAOEY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMESR. VAN SLYKE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

PBOPELLER AND CURRENT-MOTOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 10, 1909.

Application filed December 11, 1908. Serial No. 467,034.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES G. GRACEY, citizen of the United States,residing at St. Louis, State ofMissouri, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Propellers and Current-Motors, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in propellers and currentmotors, and it consists in the novel construction and arrangement ofparts more fully set forth in the specification and pointed out in theclaims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section on the line11 of Fig.

effective in affording the necessary'purchase to the blades to efiectthe propulsion of the wheel with which they are identified, and in whichthe blades shall be gradually retracted out of the water in proportionas their propelling capacity is lessened, with aview of overcoming theobjection of the blade lifting the water after it has performed itswork, an objection necessarily inherent in Which a constant area of theblade is permanently exposed to the water body.

The efficiency of a propeller constructed on my principle will beincreased to the greatest possible maximum all as will be fully apparentfrom a detailed description of the invention which is as follows:

Referring to the drawings, F represents a frame or bracket made ofangle-iron and for the purpose of the present description it may beregarded as secured to the bow or stern of a boat or vessel (not shown).At the upper end of the frame is mounted a pedal shaft 1 provided withterminal pedal arms 2, 2, the shaft carrying a sprocket wheel 3 fromwhich leads a sprocket chain 4: to a sprocket pinion 5 on a propellershaft 6. To the ends of this shaft are secured disks 7 along the outerfaces of which are pivotally mounted the blades 8, 8, the latter beingfreely rotatable about the central transversely disposed pins or rods 9,which pins extend thefull width of the blades.

Mounted at the ends of the arms a, a, forming part of the frame F, arethe shafts 10 of the skeleton drums or Wheels W, N, the said drums beingcomposed of angle irons as shown (the details of their constructionbeing unimportant as they may be changed to suit the builder). The drumsare constructed as to afford a series of raceways or grooves h, h, forthe support and travel of the blades 8, the race-ways intersecting eachother at the axis of rotation of the drum. The race-ways are open-ended,and are likewise open on the side facing the disk (or equivalent member)7 to which the blades are pivotally secured, the disk being locatedcontiguous to the drum as shown. The axes of rotation of the blades arenear the outer edge of the disk or at such points that the arcsdescribed by them in their rotation about the axis of the disk 7 shallintersect the axis of rotation of the drum IV. The axial pins 9 arespaced apart a distance equal substantially to the radius of the drumWV, so that when one of the pins 9 is at the axis of the drum, the otheris near the pe riphery thereof, or at the outer extremity of the grooveIt (Fig. 1).

The operation of the propeller may be described as follows :Assumingrotation to be imparted to the disk 7 in the direction shown by thearrows (Figs. 1, 3, 4) by a manipulation of the pedals 2, 2, in properdirection, it will be obvious that the blades 8 coupled to said diskwill, bearing as they do against the sides of the race-ways it, impart acorresponding rotation to the drum. Fora position of the disk 7 as shownin Fig. 1, one of the blades will be projected beyond the periphery ofthe drum the full distance that can be made available for acting on thewater (the level of which is indicated by the dotted line 00) and theopposite blade will rest in its race-way and extend the same distance ineither direction from the axis of rotation of the drum or wheel W.Remembering that the disk 7 and drum W rotate in the same direction, anddirecting our attention now to the diagrammatic views in Figs. 3 and 4:,it will be seen that as this rotation continues the protruding bladewill begin to recede or be retracted inwardly into its raceway, whereasthe other blade will begin to travel toward the outer right hand end of.itsrace-way, (Fig. 3) as the rotation continues still farther, bothblades will about disappear within their respective race-ways, the oneblade still continuing toward the center of the drum W and the othertraveling toward its periphery (Fig. 4). By the time the parts havemoved to a relation corresponding to that in Fig. l,'the inner bladeshown in that figure will now be the protruding blade, and theprotruding blade will become the inner blade, and so on continuously. Itwill thus be seen that each blade passes through the water with aconstantly diminishing area of exposure at points beyond the peripheryof the drum, the blade being gradually drawn into the drum as itapproaches the surface thus having a constantly diminishing weight ofwater to lift accompanied of course by a gradually diminishing force of'propulsion. So too each blade enters the water progressively and onlyprojects beyond the periphery of the drum its full available area atthemoment where it can secure a maximum purchase 011 the water.

It is of course,- obvious that the blade never leaves the particularrace-way with which it is identified, and so far as that race-way orgroove is concerned, the blade simply reciprocates back and forth fromone extreme of the diameter of the drum to the other as clearly obviousby studying the diagrammatic views in Figs. 3 and d. In practice theperipheries of the drums should be closed, as well as the ends, so thatno water may reach any portions of the blades except the protrudingportions which secure the greatest purchase on the water. Of course inthe operation of the blades first one end protrudes and then the other,depending on what portion of the rotation of the disk has been reached.The drum with its race-ways serves merely as a guide for the blades, ithaving nothing to do with the propulsion of the boat.

In lieu of a propeller, the device may be used as a current motor. Bysecuring it in proper position to a floating platform, and allowing thecurrent to impinge against the blades, rotation will be imparted to thedrum, from the shaft of which the power may be transmitted bybelt-pulleys to any suitable point of consumption as is obvious. Thenumber of intersecting race-ways 72,, it, need not be limited to two,but may be any convenient number such as three, four, or even more, arace-way being considered of course, the full length of the diameter ofthe drum V.

Having described my invention, what I claim is 1. In combination with adrum rotatable about its axis, and provided with a series of open endedrace-ways disposed diametrically across one face thereof andintersecting at the axis, a driving member adjacent to the race-waysrotating about an axis eccentric to the axis of the drum, pinsprojecting from the driving member into the race-ways, and bladesrotatably mounted on the pins and traversing their respective raceways,the length of the blades being such as to project beyond the peripheryof the drum for a portion of a rotation of the driving member, theblades bearing against the sides of their respective race-ways andimparting rotation to the drum.

2. A propeller comprising a drive-shaft, a propeller shaft actuatedtherefrom, terminal disks on the ends of the propeller shaft, pinsprojecting from the outer faces of the disks, blades mounted rotatablyon the pins, a drum located adjacent to the blades and provided withopen-ended race-ways disposed diametrically on the face of the drum andintersecting at the axis thereof, said axis being in the path of thearcs described by the pins carried by the disks, the blades beinginserted in the grooves and traversing the same upon rotation of thedisks, and thereby impelling the drum, the lengths of the respectiveblades being sufficient to project a suitable distance beyond theperipheries of the drums for each rotation of the disks.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature, in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES G. GRACEY.

Vitnesses 2 EMIL STAREK, J os. C. MICHEL.

